What is the pupil premium?

The pupil premium grant provides funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

Pupil premium funding was first introduced by the government in 2011. It represents additional funding that the government provides to schools to support the education for eligible pupils, and it is completely up to the school to determine how the money is spent. 

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. It can be used:

• for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.
• to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
• for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils

Why does the Government provide a pupil premium?

The government believes that poverty or low income is the single most important factor in predicting a child’s future life chances, with many pupils in low-income families having low attainment by the age of 16. The government believes that the pupil premium is the best way to address these inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding is used to support the disadvantaged pupils who need it the most.

Who is eligible for the pupil premium?

Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:

• pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM), or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
• children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

Implications of the Free School Meals (FSM) expansion on pupil premium

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the Department for Education (DfE) is delivering an expansion to FSM eligibility to include all pupils from households in receipt of Universal Credit. There will then be 2 categories of FSM:

• Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing £7,400 income threshold
• Expanded FSM, which will apply to meals only, covering pupils who do not qualify for Targeted FSM, but who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit

Following the expansion of FSM, only pupils eligible for Targeted FSM will be part of the Ever 6 FSM cohort. This means that pupils who become eligible for FSM for the first time through the new Expanded FSM category will not attract pupil premium funding.

Pupils who were eligible for FSM before the expansion will continue to be part of the Ever 6 FSM cohort after the expansion. That includes any pupil whose household income increases after the expansion, such that they either lose FSM eligibility altogether or become eligible for FSM through Expanded FSM. Such pupils will remain part of the Ever 6 FSM cohort for 6 years.

Further information is available on the expansion of free school meals eligibility.

Service Children

Children of armed service personnel are also eligible. Service children are children and young people from families where one or more parents is currently in the British armed forces. Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

• One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces;
• One of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last 3 years;
• One of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil is in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and the War Pensions Scheme.

The service pupil premium (SPP) provides support for children and young people of service families. It is combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending.

Pupils that the SPP intends to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds. Details of the funding criteria for SPP are outlined in the Service pupil premium section of the DfE webpage.

Schools use the wealth of evidence of ‘what works’, evaluated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), to use this funding effectively to drive high and rising standards for disadvantaged pupils.

Looked After Children

Pupil premium funding is allocated to local authorities (not to the school), based on the number of:

• looked-after children, supported by the local authority
• pupils who meet any of the eligibility criteria and who attend an independent setting, where the local authority pays full tuition fees

For pupils who are looked-after children, funding should be managed by the local authority’s virtual school head (VSH)  in consultation with the child’s school.

Adopted from Care

Schools will also receive a larger premium for each pupil who has left local authority care because of one of the following:

• Adoption;
• Special Guardianship Order;
• Child Arrangements Order;
• Residence Order.

Funding paid to schools

To ensure that pupil premium is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils, schools (including local authority virtual schools) must spend their pupil premium grant on evidence-informed activities in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by the Department for Education (DfE). The menu of approaches, helps schools allocate spending across the following areas:

• developing high-quality teaching, for example through professional development and recruitment and retention
• providing targeted academic support, such as one-to-one or small group tuition
• tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing

Accountability

Schools must show how they are using their pupil premium effectively:

• by publishing a statement on their website each academic year using the DfE template
• through inspections by Ofsted – inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their pupil premium
• through scrutiny of pupil premium plans by governors and trustees

What should parents/carers do if they want more information?

If you would like to find out more about pupil premium, please contact the Academy or see the latest Government guidance on the following link. Pupil premium: overview – GOV.UK

Strategy Statements

Trentham Academy Pupil Premium Strategy 2024 – 2027

Trentham Academy Pupil Premium Strategy 2021 – 2024

Trentham Academy Pupil Premium Strategy Statement – 2020 – 2021

Applying for Free School Meals

In-Year Transfers and New Year 7s

If your child is currently receiving free school meals, please download and complete this form and email back to [email protected] for processing. If you are struggling or unable to complete the form please call the school office on 01782 883200.

If your child is not currently in receipt of free school meals, and you wish to make an application, please do so through the following web address: Stoke Free School Meals